Korean Job Discussion Forums

Real Reality · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul

Is the attitude local or Korea-wide? Would a Korean faculty member be treated the same way? How much support would be available for a member of the Korean faculty? Would a Korean staff member be treated in a similar fashion?

Foreign scholars merit equal status
The foreign professor -- colleague or hired hand?
John B. Kotch, JoongAng Ilbo (June 14, 2002)
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200206/14/200206142349223599900090109011.html

Foreigners Experience Difficulties in Living in Korea
by Jae-Dong Yu and Soo-Jung Shin, Donga.com (July 4, 2004)
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?biid=2004070522448

Korea Ranks 105th in Global Labor Flexibility
By Lee Hyo-sik, Korea Times (September 14, 2005)
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200509/kt2005091417165210440.htm

willardmusa · Joined: 28 May 2006

Is the attitude local or Korea-wide? MY ANSWER: I don't think so. I think ICU in Daejon in particular has many problems administratively and their shortcomings in dealing with foreign professors or having empathy for a professor's situation - - or even taking a foreign professor seriously when he warns that he will sue the university to get his severance benefit . . . is only an extension of greater administrative problems at the school.

Would a Korean faculty member be treated the same way?
How much support would be available for a member of the Korean faculty? Would a Korean staff member be treated in a similar fashion? MY ANSWER: I can't say since the foreign professors are in the ELP and we just didn't mix with other professors or departments.

princess · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: soul of Asia

I think that's pretty much the norm for Korea. For the past 2 years, I got ZERO sick days. One poor Korean teacher was in a car accident and missed 2 weeks of work. They said if she didn't come back the third week, her job would be gone. So, she came back when she really shouldn't have. Another teacher had pneumonia and even though someone covered her morning classes, she still had to go in every morning to write lesson plans for her sub teacher. Hey, if you have to go in anyways, you may as well just stay. That's pointless. That's the whole point of being sick and having a sub...to stay home in bed and rest. I worked a whole month sick as ever, with a fever the last week of my illness. After my morning classes finished I went to the hospital and was expected to come back to teach 2 afternoon classes, and I could barely stand up...AND I did 3 parent observation classes in this state.

charlieDD · Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Location: Seoul, Korea

I've seen ICU in Daejon post recruitment ads fairly frequently here on Dave's. How big is the English language faculty there? What do they pay? What kind of housing?

willardmusa · Joined: 28 May 2006

It's a small faculty of just three or four fulltime foreign "invited professors". They hire a lot of part-timers, sometimes as many as five per semester or for a camp. Pay's around 2.5 mil / month, but you have to pay 300,000 won back to them for the dormitory apartment they "provide". If you choose to live off campus, you're on your own -- no housing allowance. (And, if you like the city life, you end up spending a lot on buses and KTX getting up to Seoul and back on the weekends).in the end, the pay is no better than most jobs, hagwon or uni.)

I was attracted to the program for a perceived potential to develop ESP curriculum (everyone studies the same major, basically, so it's a perfect candidate for English for Specific Purposes curriculum.) But, that turned out to be only a perceived potential and not an opportunity because, in my opinion, the sad way things are run there; no focus, no sense of direction or purpose, "got the classes covered", crisis management, IMHO. If you're a professional, the time you spend there, in my opinion, is "downtime."

I_Am_Wrong · Joined: 14 Sep 2004 Location: whatever

gotta love the public school. I was sick as a dog and came in...they told me to go home.

willardmusa · Joined: 28 May 2006

rothkowitz · Joined: 27 Apr 2006

I've got 7 sick days written into my public school contract.I'm about 10 months through and I've used 4.

The first time I tried to use it I got a cockinmamie(sp?) story from the teacher that interviewed me saying that I shouldn't because Koreans don't take sick days.Yes,but,then again you have 2 months off in winter and 6 weeks in summer don't you?

My principal is pretty relaxed about taking a sick day.But...you have to turn up first.